The Reconstructors: A Plaguing Problem

Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning, USA. 

Players help solve drug-related cases by gathering evidence, interpreting data, conducting experiments and consulting with experts. Players learn about how opioids affect the body so that they can make informed choices when encountering them.
Players also learn about the origins of pain-relieving drugs, the different classes of these drugs, the different between anaesthetics and analgesics, that the term “drug” does not always imply an illegal substance, distinguish between the effect of an analgesic and an anaesthetic and interpret data and draw conclusions from virtual experiments.

3 × 30–45 minute episodes

Extensive supplementary classroom activities available here. 

• Increased general knowledge of drug(s)
• Increased knowledge of drug-related effects and harms.

Benefits associated with playing the Reconstructors have been evaluated in two published studies (see below). The benefits have not yet been evaluated in an Australian sample.

Miller, L., Moreno, J., Willcockson, I., Smith, D., Mayes, J. & Schultz, B. (2006). An online, interactive approach to teaching neuroscience to adolescents. CBE-Life Sciences Education 5: 137-143.

Miller, L., Schweingruber, H., Oliver, R., Mayes, J., & Smith, D. (2002). Teaching neuroscience through Web adventures: adolescents reconstruct the history and science of opioids. Neuroscientist, 8, 16-21.